Leadership is a facet of management:

I had lunch last week with a past peer in one of my corporate positions, and we had a discussion how one of our superiors had tried to “manage” a billion dollar company through a particularly difficult situation, when he should have used “leadership” instead.

Leadership is a facet of management:Leadership is just one of the many assets a successful manager must possess. Care must be taken in distinguishing between the two concepts. The main aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To achieve this, managers must undertake the following functions:

 * organization

 * planning

 * staffing

 * directing

 * controlling

 

Leadership is just one important component of the directing function.  

A manager cannot just be a leader; he also needs formal authority to be effective. "For any quality initiative to take hold, senior management must be involved and act as a role model. This involvement cannot be delegated."

In some circumstances, leadership is not required. For example, self-motivated groups may not require a single leader and may find leaders dominating. The fact that a leader is not always required proves that leadership is...

Coach Michael Snedeker on How to Build a Successful TEAM…

How to Build a Successful TEAM…

Selecting the right people is just the beginning of building a successful team for your business. However, you cannot simply expect that your team alone will transform your business and take it to its next level of performance.

It is equally important to have the following six elements in place:

1. Strong Leadership:

Tom Landry, the former coach of the Dallas Cowboys, said "Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control."

Strong leadership requires creating a working environment that encourages the cooperation of your team members. By encouraging and inspiring them, they in turn, will inspire and encourage the customers.

The goal of strong leadership is to maximize the "discretionary effort" that team members provide to meet team or company goals. That's the extra effort people provide, if they want to. Too often employees will do just what they have to do in order to get by.

In his best-selling business book Good to Great, author Jim Collins identifies common leadership elements that top performing organizations have in place to allow them to tap into this wealth of discretionary effort.

The most important element is what Collins calls "Level 5 Leadership." While these leaders have the ability to motivate their teams to pursue a clear and compelling vision and generate higher performance, they also demonstrate a unique blend of personal humility and professional will as they lead from the front to create the discretionary effort from all team members.

Another important element is the "the window and the mirror" concept to both protect and energize the leader's team. When things are going well, “Level 5” leaders look out the "window" and credit their team for the success; when things are going poorly they look in the "mirror" and take the responsibility for poor performance.

2. Common Goals:

Teams need to understand what their common 

business goals are and those goals need to supersede all individual goals. Sports teams provide an excellent example of this concept.

If the team understands that a common goal is to win the championship, then it will be easier for all team members to focus and concentrate on the team goal. If one or more team members are focused on individual goals, such as winning the scoring title, the performance of the entire team can be negatively affected.

Business is similar in this respect. If the salesperson is just focused on bringing in orders regardless of the cost to produce and ship that order, the common goal of maximizing profit will be at risk.

As people do what they are recognized and rewarded for, it is critical that the recognition and reward structure for individuals and for teams is consistent with the company's common goals.

Setting common goals for the business always starts with the owner's vision. This must be regarded as the central aim and leaders must enlist the support of all team members to inspire them to do the things that they have to do.

3. Rules of the Game:   

Employees also need to understand the rules that govern the way the owner conducts the business. The rules must be written down and made available to them.

If the owner doesn't provide employees with the "rules of the game" they will go outside the boundaries.



The process of setting the rules of the game will include specifying company culture and values as well as ensuring that individual roles and responsibilities are defined with positional contracts, and operations and procedures manuals.

Without providing defined rules including the company's culture, the owner or manager will need to rely on policing to run the business. Also, if the owner doesn't establish the culture, the employees will create a de facto culture that may not be to the owner's liking or in the best interests of the company.

4. Action Plan:

A key element for a winning team is a strong action plan that is spelled out in clear and unambiguous terms to all members of the team. While the common goals referred to above, help identify what the owner and the business want to do, the action plan identifies how the goals will be achieved. A good action plan will assign ownership of tasks, identify what resources are required, set timelines for when tasks should be completed, and provide measurement details of the current status of the tasks over the defined time-periods.



5. Support Risk-Taking:

Business is all about risk and reward. To make the business grow, a leader must be willing to support prudent risk-taking by the team. If the owner doesn't allow risk-taking, the business will lag behind market leaders. The level of risk-taking is usually related to the company's culture.

6. 100 percent Inclusion and Involvement:

The art of inclusion is driven by communication to all members of the team. By providing 100 percent inclusion, the owner can then require 100 percent involvement as an expectation of the organization's culture.

This will lead to trust and a comfort level by the owner to delegate responsibilities.

Michael Snedeker | Closing The Sale

Once the meetings are done and all the questions have been answered, the only thing left to do is to close the deal. As an entrepreneur, you are usually bidding against a competitor, and while you might be able to bring the deal to the table, the deal is not done until all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed.

Lets face it: getting a client from the request-for-proposal stage to actually signing on the dotted line can be a stressful and daunting task. But with a few tips, any business person can be a better closer.

 Business Coach, Michael Snedeker has a few useful ways for any entrepreneur to successfully close a deal:

1. Sweeten the deal.

Closing a deal is sometimes a matter of giving a client an extra incentive to do business with you instead of your competitors. One way to do this is by sweetening the deal -- either at the beginning of the sales process or right near the close when the customer is weighing a purchase or seems to be wavering on finalizing the transaction. 

You can sweeten the deal by throwing in freebies that have high perceived value. Other ways of sweetening a deal include adding support services, ancillary products or one-on-one help that the customer may desire. 

Smart entrepreneurs know what their clients value most -- whether it's cost, quality, performance, convenience or other benefits. Savvy entrepreneurs add sweeteners to help satisfy their customers' wants and needs.

2. Let customers pay how they want.

Many entrepreneurs lose out on snagging paying customers because the business owner is too rigid in the payment process, or they're woefully out of touch with how customers want to pay. 

Depending on your target customers, some clients want to pay using more traditional methods, such as credit cards, checks or cash. But with advancements in digital technology, other clients may prefer to use online or mobile payment methods, such as PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Wallet.

Those who are open and willing to accept a broader range of payments will diversify their client base, establish or maintain a broader income stream, and close more deals.

                                            3. Negotiate from a position of strength (not need or greed).

Knowing how hard to negotiate is always tricky for entrepreneurs hungry to close more deals. But just because you're seeking additional revenue doesn't mean you should cave in and drastically slash your prices at the first sign of a price objection. 

It's just as counterproductive to succumb to desperation as it is to fall victim to greediness. As hard as it can be, need and greed shouldn't rule your decision-making during business negotiations. Instead, you should negotiate from a position of strength, based on your unique features, benefits, capabilities or offerings.

When you have a really strong sense of what you and your products or services are worth in the marketplace, don't be afraid to ask for pricing that reflects your value. You'll close deals with the right customers -- and sidestep those who aren't in your sweet spot. 

Too many entrepreneurs sell themselves short in the hunt for new business. That's a big mistake. It's harder to raiser prices later, especially on existing customers. So it's better to set your pricing accurately and accordingly from the get-go, and update prices gradually as necessary or as market conditions change.

4. Offer a (nearly) free trial.

A final way to close a deal is to offer a free (or nearly free) trial offer of the product or service you're selling. Some examples are 30 days of complimentary service, a "no money down" purchase for a piece of equipment or a month-long subscription/trial offer for free or deeply discounted software.

A free or almost free trial can be an easy, low-risk way for a new client to give your offerings a try. So by tempting a customer with an offer that's cost-free, or virtually so, you greatly increase the chance of turning that prospect into a paying client.

Michael Snedeker | Can help relieve the stress

 

What is stress and how to relieve stress:

"People carry massive responsibilities and are blown about in so many directions as they follow an endless to-do list. Are they happier? Satisfied? When tasks don't get crossed off the to-do list, people experience stress, resulting in sleepless nights and days filled with feelings of negativity and inadequacy. Since these people can accomplish on so many levels, they tend to believe that if they don't do it all, then they simply don't measure up. Then chronic stress sets in, unleashing damaging stress hormones, which trigger inflammatory responses responsible for diseases affecting the cardiovascular and digestive systems as well as causing fatigue and depression. People do things with a "loose mind" and feel guilty about relaxing and having fun. In fact, people who find free time, usually don't know what to do with it."

How does someone become addicted to stress?

"Stress is everywhere and we tend to get accustomed to living on a high - that surge of adrenaline. The problem is that with every high, we crash both body and mind, and then need a bigger fix. Mostly this stress is internally driven - we need to prove to everyone how important and indispensable we are. We have lost our identity, what makes a person unique. Basically, this incredible busyness helps us to run away from the self - the deficits in personality and our fundamental unhappiness."

Are there certain types of people that are most vulnerable to stress?

"A little stress (acute stress) can be good because it jump-starts people to perform better and keep the immune system vigilant. For example, some people do well on deadline. However, when stress becomes chronic, it becomes unhealthy and saps our vitality. The people who are most vulnerable to stress addiction are victims of 'identity theft;' they have lost their personal power along the way to becoming a colleague, spouse, parent, etc.

Another predisposing factor is emotional programming by parents, teachers and religious leaders to be good, self-sacrificing and giving - people pleasers. People pleasers have plenty of parasites lined up for them. Suppressed and silenced, these people wonder why everyone is happy, except for them."

The Impact of Stress

How does stress affect relationships and other areas of a person's life?

"Stress robs people of joy and natural self-expression. People become irritable, abrupt and inattentive listeners - many unnecessary conflicts follow. Everyone is affected by this negativity. It's like people have a big chip on the shoulder. Quite often people will keep giving and doing for others, then feel resentful. This is a recipe for road rage in the living room because if you live with someone, that person becomes a mirror in which unhappiness projects on. This causes the person to tiptoe around you."

Steps for Lifestyle Modification for Stress Relief. What are some lifestyle changes someone can make to combat stress?

                                                                             Time for Yourself

The first step is awareness. Instead of helicoptering over others and taking care of their needs, helicopter over yourself. See the pattern. Create some special time for yourself by shedding one thing from your to-do list. How does this make you feel? The next day, let go of another chore. Instead of that to-do list, create a "look what I did today list." Find an activity which makes your heart sing and revive the inner child who had hopes and dreams. Do you dare to dream anymore?"

Eating and Exercise

"Food and mood correlate. Even the order in which you eat your food is important. The key word is balance. In the book, I give you the food science. Also, exercise is vital because exercise releases damaging stress hormones, increases feelings of empowerment and improves focus. Exercise breaks you out of a negative mindset because 'you mind your muscle'.

"Tip: When you are highly stressed, walk it off wearing headphones. Music and exercise create a great synergy to release stress. Walk with headphones outdoors in the light and you can reset your natural rhythm, the more intense the stress, the longer the walk. "

How can someone bring his or her stress level down when going through a challenging time?

"Stress is fueled by perception". 'Life is a series of recoveries.' Each time you manage a stressor, you raise your stress threshold to cope with the next stressor - creating experience and empowerment. Stress management means preparing to reinterpret those negatives into optimistic resiliency with constant practice beginning with the little things.

"Everything is a story, the story we create out of the facts. Re-frame your story. Shift your perception after you've calmed down and come to your senses instead of numbing them."

How Successful People Work Less and Get More Done | Michael Snedeker

The study found that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working any more. That’s right, people who work as much as 70 hours (or more) per week actually get the same amount done as people who work 55 hours.

Successful people know the importance of shifting gears on the weekend to relaxing and rejuvenating activities. Like Spencer, they use their weekends to create a better week ahead.

Related: 10 Truths We Forget Too Easily

This is easier said than done, so here’s some help. The following list contains 10 things that successful people do to find balance on the weekend and to come into work at 110% on Monday morning.

1. They Disconnect

Disconnecting is the most important weekend strategy on this list, because if you can’t find a way to remove yourself electronically from your work Friday evening through Monday morning, then you’ve never really left work.

Making yourself available to your work 24/7 exposes you to a constant barrage of stressors that prevent you from refocusing and recharging. If taking the entire weekend off handling work e-mails and calls isn’t realistic, try designating specific times on Saturday and Sunday for checking e-mails and responding to voicemails. For example, check your messages on Saturday afternoon while your kids are getting a haircut and on Sunday evenings after dinner. Scheduling short blocks of time will alleviate stress without sacrificing availability.

2. They Minimize Chores

Chores have a funny habit of completely taking over your weekends. When this happens, you lose the opportunity to relax and reflect. What’s worse is that a lot of chores feel like work, and if you spend all weekend doing them, you just put in a seven-day workweek. To keep this from happening, you need to schedule your chores like you would anything else during the week, and if you don’t complete them during the allotted time, you move on and finish them the following weekend.

3. They Reflect

Weekly reflection is a powerful tool for improvement. Use the weekend to contemplate the larger forces that are shaping your industry, your organization, and your job. Without the distractions of Monday to Friday busy work, you should be able to see things in a whole new light. Use this insight to alter your approach to the coming week, improving the efficiency and efficacy of your work.

4. They Exercise

No time to exercise during the week? You have 48 hours every weekend to make it happen. Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a soothing neurotransmitter that reduces stress. Exercise is also a great way to come up with new ideas. Innovators and other successful people know that being outdoors often sparks creativity.

I know that a lot of my best ideas come to me while I’m surfing. While you’re out in the ocean, the combination of invigorating activity and beautiful scenery creates the perfect environment for an influx of creativity. Whether you’re running, cycling, or gardening, exercise leads to endorphin-fueled introspection. The key is to find a physical activity that does this for you and then to make it an important part of your weekend routine.

5. They Pursue a Passion

You might be surprised what happens when you pursue something you’re passionate about on weekends. Indulging your passions is a great way to escape stress and to open your mind to new ways of thinking. Things like playing music, reading, writing, painting, or even playing catch with your kids can help stimulate different modes of thought that can reap huge dividends over the coming week.

6. They Spend Quality Time with Family

Spending quality time with your family on the weekend is essential if you want to recharge and relax. Family time on the weekend is so important to Spencer Rascoff that he flies home for the weekend, no matter how far away he is, even if he has to be in the same city the following week. Weekdays are so hectic that the entire week can fly by with little quality family time. Don’t let this bleed into your weekends. Take your kids to the park, take your spouse to his or her favorite restaurant, and go visit your parents. You’ll be glad you did.

7. They Schedule Micro-Adventures

Buy tickets to a concert or play, or get reservations for that cool new hotel that just opened downtown. Instead of running on a treadmill, plan a hike. Try something you haven’t done before or perhaps something you haven’t done in a long time. Studies show that anticipating something good to come is a significant part of what makes the activity pleasurable. Knowing that you have something interesting planned for Saturday will not only be fun come Saturday, but it will significantly improve your mood throughout the week.

8. They Wake Up at the Same Time

It’s tempting to sleep in on the weekend to catch up on your sleep. Though it feels good temporarily, having an inconsistent wake-up time disturbs your circadian rhythm. Your body cycles through an elaborate series of sleep phases in order for you to wake up rested and refreshed. One of these phases involves preparing your mind to be awake and alert, which is why people often wake up just before their alarm clock goes off (the brain is trained and ready). When you sleep past your regular wake-up time on the weekend, you end up feeling groggy and tired. This isn’t just disruptive to your day off, it also makes you less productive on Monday because your brain isn’t ready to wake up at your regular time. If you need to catch up on sleep, just go to bed earlier.

9. They Designate Mornings as Me Time

It can be difficult to get time to yourself on the weekends, especially if you have family. Finding a way to engage in an activity you’re passionate about first thing in the morning can pay massive dividends in happiness and cleanliness of mind. It’s also a great way to perfect your circadian rhythm by forcing yourself to wake up at the same time you do on weekdays. Your mind achieves peak performance two-to-four hours after you wake up, so get up early to do something physical, and then sit down and engage in something mental while your mind is at its peak.

10. They Prepare for the Upcoming Week

The weekend is a great time to spend a few moments planning your upcoming week. As little as 30 minutes of planning can yield significant gains in productivity and reduced stress. The week feels a lot more manageable when you go into it with a plan because all you have to focus on is execution.

How does a business become successful?

How does a business become successful? Is it about the quality of the product or service? The customer experience? The convenience? The local need? Building a successful company is about all of those things – but it all really comes down to SALES. You can have the best product with the most helpful team, but if you can’t close the deal, your business will still fail.

For this blog, I thought it would be a good time to talk about a common misconception – that sales is a department. Sure, you may have people who dedicate their entire day to selling your product or service, but every single person who works in your business needs to understand that sales is part of the job. Even if they won’t be putting sales on a resume, every single person a potential customer interacts with is involved in the sales process.

So how can you help your employees understand that selling is part of every job? It’s all about changing the mindset. If you can get your team to understand that providing an excellent customer services experience translates directly to improved sales and a stronger business, your products and services will nearly sell themselves.

If your sales people – or your entire team – could use a mindset adjustment, then it might be time to consider bringing in Coach Sned to work through his one year-long Sales Mastery program. Business Coach, Michael Snedeker will provide your team with the tools and experience needed to be successful. It’s about more than teaching professional skills, it’s about helping the members of your team grow personally.